Save on your order this Valentine's Day!

15% off any purchase through March 1, 2011!
Just enter VDAY11 at checkout.

This year for Valentine's Day, give a gift that tastes delicious and helps the environment- Cinnamon Plum .  We are once again teaming up with Clean Water Fund.  We are donating 25% of the profits of Cinnamon Plum to their effort of keeping America's waterways clean.  Jon Scott, of Clean Water Fund, tells us what he loves about Cinnamon Plum.

What I like (love) about Cinnamon Plum

by Jon Scott

If you’ve already tried it you know this herbal blend makes a fantastic winter warmer. (If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. This is definitely the kind of Winter when it will really sing for you.).

There’s something very happy about that nice deep plum red color, combined with a kind of a tangy snap and the extra-warming boost the cinnamon brings to the party. Half an hour after shoveling snow off the deck and settling back into my favorite chair with a steaming mug of Cinnamon Plum, I’m already feeling great and ready to get back to work!

But I was thinking…

For the past couple of years, I’ve given Cinnamon Plum as holiday gifts and really enjoyed being able to give something that makes you feel good, and that you can also feel good about. That’s one benefit of this herbal tea’s Organic and Fair Trade certifications. The fact that sales of this tea also benefit my organization, Clean Water Fund, makes it even more fun to give and to receive.

One other thing. Now we’re getting into February. This Cinnamon Plum herbal tea brews up nice and red. It makes anyone who drinks it warm and happy, and there’s the extra warming zip of that cinnamon. Organic and Fair Trade certified, and benefits Clean Water Fund. Sounds like a perfect alternative (or addition) to the traditional Valentines Day candy, flowers. Can good tea be romantic? Give Cinnamon Plum this Valentines Day and find out for yourself.

Jon Scott is Director of Corporate Relations for Clean Water Fund & Clean Water Action

Behind the Label - from Seed to Table

We are unbelievably thrilled to have Rishi Tea founder, Joshua join world renowned Chef Charlie Trotter and Tony Dreyfuss, co-owner of Metropolis Coffee for Behind the Label – from seed to table. Each will discuss the concepts of organic, fair trade, sustainable and local while sharing their personal journeys, and travels to select the world’s finest ingredients. The night will also feature an innovative menu from Chef Trotter, incorporating both Metropolis Coffee and Rishi Tea into the food, cocktails, wine and delicious desserts from Chef Keli Fayard of Vanille Patisserie.

Behind the Label takes place at 6pm on Monday, February 7^th at Charlie Trotter’s on 816 W. Armitage in Chicago. Tickets are available for purchase from Vanille Patisserie. 

Cinnamon Plum Season

It's about that time where we begin the transition from drinking lighter, spring harvested teas like Silver Needle, to dark and rich blacks, pu-erhs and herbal blends like our delicious Organic Cinnamon Plum. During the cooler months fall and frigid months of winter (we're in Wisconsin!), a hot cup of sweet, succulent and soothing Cinnamon Plum is enough to warm both your body and spirits.

Cinnamon Plum began as a limited, seasonal offering and a partnership with Clean Water Fund (we've donated over $10,000 to CWF) and has become a mainstay over the last three years, having won First Place for Best Blended Herbal at the 2009 World Tea Championship. Like our fans, friends and customers, we cannot get enough of this tea. That's why we decided to add Cinnamon Plum to our Retail Collection in early December, making it available in retail stores year-round. In the meantime, find Cinnamon Plum online and in a gift set and feel great knowing that for the third consecutive year, 25% of the profits are donated to Clean Water Fund (from October through March) in support of their efforts to protect and restore our country's waters. After all, tea will only be as good as the water used to brew it.  

Try Cinnamon Plum 3 Delicious Ways!

Cold Brew

Add 4 teaspoons to an Essential Tea Pitcher and fill with apple cider.  Place in fridge overnight and drink the next morning!

Hot Cider

Add 1 tablespoon to a saucepan for every 8 ounces of cider. Simmer for 10 minutes. Strain into a heat resistant pitcher and serve with a cinnamon stick.

 
Hot Tea

Boil water. Add 1 tablespoon to a teapot for every 8 ounces of water. Steep for 5 minutes and serve.

Pussimbing Darjeeling Black Tea

We are very excited to offer a special Darjeeling - Second Flush Darjeeling Select - Pussimbing Estate black tea is one of our new favorites!

This limited batch was the best tea we tasted from Darjeeling this year. This was one of the hardest years to find good quality Darjeeling tea.  The region was hit by back-to-back drought quality years and high quality was way down.  We were so lucky to find this one from the Pussimbing Organic Fair Trade Tea Estate.

Pussimbing Tea Estate is situated East of Darjeeling, just below the famous “Tiger Hill” and is famous for its misty ambiance which helps to produce a completely  different, exclusive variety of teas.

The history behind the local name, Pussimbing, is that it is a combination of 2 words “Pasang”(name/community) and “Ung” (water source).

It is said that a monk named "Pasang" searching for water near Darjeeling found several sources of water in the valley on the hills where the present Pussimbing Tea Estate is situated. Due to abundance of water tea could be cultivated with ease and the British Planters expanded it into a fully commercial plantation sometime in the year 1911.

Today Pussimbing makes some of the finest Bio-Organic teas produced in the Darjeeling District and a distinctive feature of the teas produced here are that they have a natural fruity fragrance and taste.

This is one of the highest elevation gardens in the district and also produces some of the finest Darjeeling Green Teas.

Elevation: 1500 Mts. to 2200 metres above sea level

Total Crop: 80 MT annually

Total Gross Area: 400 Hectares

Total Planed Area: 201 Hectares

Jats of tea planted :Both Original Darjeeling seed (China ) & High Quality Assam Hybrid

Workers Employed: 531

Status: 100 % Certified Bio-Organic since 1997 (Fair Trade since 1995)

Fair Trade Details

A. Number of families covered -   650

B. Utilization of  Fair Trade premiums :

  1.)  Distribution of  Livestock (cows) amongst workers

  2.)  Distribution of  LPG cylinders and stoves to workers for cooking

  3.)  Repair and construction of Village roads

Learn more about our new Pussimbing Estate Darjeeling

2010 Spring Harvest Videos from Hubei, China

We're very excited to share a few personal and educational videos from Joshua and friends in Hubei, China, filmed this April, 2010.

Welcome message from Joshua and the Xuan En Fair Trade Funded Hospital Staff


Interview with Mr. Qu who represents hundreds of families from all the villages that produce our Fair Trade organic teas from Xuan En in Hubei, China.


Joshua speaks with Mrs. Wang in Bai Hu Shan, White Tiger Mountain Village. Mrs. Wang is one of 600 members of the Xuan En Fair Trade Organic Tea Farmer's Co-op in Xuan En, Hubei, China.


Joshua drinks tea and speaks with Mr. Lee, a Xuan En organic tea farmer and Fair Trade Co-op member to discuss the recent fair trade developments in Ma'An Village, Hubei, China.

Fair Trade YOUR Home

Fair Trade My Home is a grass-roots campaign of fair trade companies, individuals and organizations who are inviting friends and fans to join the fair trade movement and make their home a “Fair Trade Home.” The goal is to create as many self-declared Fair Trade Homes as possible by having people submit a photo or video showing which fair trade goods they regularly purchase and use in their home. Submit your photos and video to www.fairtrademyhome.com.

The purpose of Fair Trade My Home is to raise greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer, so that more people support fair trade buying habits, fair labor practices and help cut down on poverty both in America and around the world. Currently, the U.S. has over 1,500 companies and retailers offering fair trade goods, 13 fair trade towns (Milwaukee being one!), and over 300 college campuses that support fair trade. We can grow the Fair Trade community by growing awareness!

Learn more at www.fairtrademyhome.com and www.fairtradewhitehouse.com.

Brewing up a New Chai in support of the Jane Goodall Institute

We are absolutely thrilled to launch our new Masala Chai Concentrate! The new chai is an improvement upon our previous formula for a few different reasons: the flavors are richer and deeper, the packaging is more environmentally friendly and will take less fuel to ship it around the globe, and most importantly, we’ve partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute! Proceeds from each sale of the concentrate benefit Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Program.

Jane Goodall has worked for almost fifty years to protect animals, habitats and communities around the globe. The Roots& Shoots Program that she founded in 1991 is a youth-driven, global network of more than 8,000 groups in almost 100 countries. Together, youth from around the globe take action to improve our world through service learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment and the human community.

Rishi Tea’s Masala Chai Concentrate is an organic and Fair Trade Certified™ microbrewed blend of energizing spices and rich vanilla infused with a full-bodied single origin forest grown black tea. Unlike other companies that use soluble tea and flavor extracts, we use traditional Indian spices that are slow brewed for more than 20 hours and ethically sourced, wild-grown black tealeaves from an ancient tea tree forest.

The Fair Trade black tea is harvested in Yunnan, China’s Mannong and Manmai villages, and helps support more than 220 families living and working in the villages. Ancient wild-grown forest tea comes from a sustainable, biologically diverse ecosystem. Less than 2% of the world’s tea is harvested in such a low impact and truly organic manner.

Joshua, Rishi Tea founder and tea buyer shares “Our Masala Chai goes above and beyond its organic and Fair Trade certifications. Promoting biodiversity, preserving soil and species and preventing erosion is critical to sustaining the environment but few large-scale tea farms work to this aim. Rishi’s direct trade of sustainable forest tea is a market driven solution for environmental conservation and pairs well with what the Roots & Shoots Program is all about.”

Rishi Tea’s organic, Fair Trade and Kosher Certified Masala Chai Concentrate is also fat free, gluten free and vegan. It’s available at Whole Foods for $5.99 and will be available at www.rishi-tea.com soon!

Video: Ancient Tree Teas & Fair Trade in Yunnan

Thanks to the wonderful people at TransFair USA for shooting this video and for all of their great work supporting Fair Trade around the world!

31 Days, 31 Fair Trade Giveaways

We’ve launched 31 Days, 31 Giveaways! in support of TransFair USA’s Fair Trade Month campaign, “31 Days, 31 Ways”!

Each day throughout the month of October, we’ll give away Fair Trade Certified tea via Twitter.

To participate, simply check our Twitter account each morning by 10am CST and re-tweet our post for that day. One winner will be randomly chosen by 5pm CST and announced on Twitter.

Win organic Fair Trade tea, help support a fair life for farmers and artisans around the world and make a difference this October!

Fair Trade the White House!

Rishi Tea is an Official Supporter of Fair Trade the White House. Help us spread the word on fair trade and make the White House a Fair Trade Home. Invite Mrs. Obama to join the fair trade movement at www.fairtradewhitehouse.com.

Fair Trade the White House is a coalition of fair trade vendors and organizations that are inviting the First Lady to join the fair trade movement and make the White House a “Fair Trade Home.” The purpose of the outreach is to raise greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer so each person will choose to “join the Fair Party,” and integrate more fair trade purchases into their regular buying habits so that poverty is reduced in America and around the world.